384 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



education burdened with the refinement of sci- 

 ence ; they could not appreciate it, and it would 

 be their ruin to accept it. To work is their duty 

 and their necessity; from this there is no escape; 

 and no farm school can prosper, or be useful, 

 even in a small degree, in which the impression 

 of this imperious necessity is not firmly fixed, 

 and the mind of every youth made to feel not 

 only that personal toil is honorable, but that his 

 character, his success and his fortunes rest up- 

 on it. 



It is schools of this kind we wish to see estab- 

 lished ; that the class to which we allude may re- 

 ceive such an education as will give them an intel- 

 ligent view of their profession, in all its details, and 

 lead them to love and to study the high purposes 

 of nature, and all the magnificent objects, she lays 

 lavishly bL;fore them. There is no difficulty in es- 

 tablishing schools which may, by courtesy, be 

 called agricultural, where the taste for agriculture 

 may be created and cultivated ; where even its 

 practice may form some part of its design. As 

 far as they go, these are valuable ; but they are not 

 intended for the working farmer, and it would be 

 unfortunate for him if he entered the walls of one 

 of them. Their design is to give men of liberal 

 means a more extended field of knowledge, to 

 widen their sphere of action ; to put them in con- 

 tact, and make them familiar with the great and 

 substantial basis of the industry of nations. So far 

 they are of great importance, and should in every 

 way be encouraged. But beyond this, they do not 

 avail much. They may form a sympathy for labor, 

 but they do not create a love for it. They may give 

 an esteem for the child of labor, but form no desire 

 to share his toil. They may encourage a love for 

 the country, in itself an immense good ; for there 

 is in the depths of every, or nearly every bosom, 

 a poetical sentiment, a natui-al and irresistible 

 affection that draws men towards rural scenes 

 and rural life ; and there have been very few of 

 the best, or most eminent men, the Avearied man 

 of business, the harrassed man of care, the per- 

 plexed man of thought, who have not, at some 

 time, looked to them as offering all the world can 

 give of tranquillity and repose. 



But it is not worth while to establish schools 

 for the development of the poetical sentiment, or 

 to attract men to the country, or to give oppor- 

 tunities, or increase the desire for retirement. 

 To the great mass of m.ankind life is a stern, prac- 

 tical reality. To very few does it ever offer more 

 than a passing wish, or a fugitive hope, that it 

 may be something else, or something better. No 

 one feels this more than the man of labor ; to 

 him there is no other poetry in his occupation 

 than in the increase and amount of his profits ; 

 and no one has a more bitter assurance of this 

 than the farmer, who too frequently sees, upon 

 the inclined pfano of his fortune, the expenses 

 goinv up, and the profits going down. 



The education to which we allude, and to which 

 we give our adherence, is not one that sharpens 

 the mind, but debilitates the machinery with 

 which it works ; nor one that, while it makes ag- 

 riculture a liberal occupation, at the same time 

 creates a contempt for toil and practice of it. 

 To follow a plow is in fact as worthy as a trade ; 

 and to manage a farm requires far more mind, 

 vigilance, attention and labor than most of the 

 departments of. business. It is true that it has 



enemies to encounter, more generous, and less 

 artful than man ; that storms and vicissitudes of 

 seasons, the immediate representations of the 

 powers of heaven, baffle his efforts; still nature is 

 his constant friend, and her smiles lighten his la- 

 bor, and make it prosperous. — Quarterly Journal 

 of Agriculture. 



FLY CLOTHS. 



The Messrs. Chases & Fay, 233 State Street, 

 Boston, have made a light and good-looking cov- 

 ering for horses, of a kind of grass cloth, which 

 is cool, and we think ought to be extensively used. 

 We have no doubt that such use would save 

 hundreds of bushels of grain. A hungry swarm 

 of flies preying upon a horse when harnessed and 

 buckled up so that he cannot drive them off, must 

 exhaust his resources in some degree. So if he 

 stand in his stall and kicks the planks upon which 

 he rests, he exhausts his powers, beside spoiling 

 the stable, as he would in travelling on the road 

 or plowing in the field, only it is less in degree. 



There are two ways of protecting a horse from 

 flies. One is to keep his stall dark, which the 

 horse would probably object to, if he could speak, 

 and the other to admit a moderate amount of light 

 and then throw over him some light and cool cov- 

 ering, such as Ave have mentioned. This protec- 

 tion is still more important when the horse is on 

 the dusty road, and occasionally passing through 

 forests where the green flies dart upon the poor 

 beast and bring blood at every stroke. But it is 

 a matter of strict economy, as Avell as a Christian 

 duty, to keep all the animals under our care com- 

 fortable and healthy. 



"A merciful man is merciful to his beast." 



I-'or the Netc England Farmer. 

 CULTIVATING THE WILLOW. 



The vast amount of Avillow employed in various 

 manufactures, at the present day, renders it ex- 

 pedient to engage in groAving it in sufficient quan- 

 tity to supply the demand, instead of importing 

 it from abroad. The purposes to Avhich the Avil- 

 loAV is applied, are too numerous to particularize, 

 and some new article made of this material is 

 seen in the market at short intervals. Eaton, in 

 the seventh edition of his manual, published 

 twenty-four years since, describes forty species of 

 the AvilloAV, nearly all of Avhich are indigenous to 

 North America ; probably many species have been 

 added to the number since that time. It Avould 

 be remarkable if among so many kinds there were 

 not some adapted to the manufacturer's use. That 

 the climate and soil are adapted to its groAvth is 

 evident from the abundance Avhich is met with on 

 streams and low grounds in this region. There 

 are many tracts of land AA'hich are unproductive, 

 and nearly Avorthless to the owners at present, 

 Avhich, if planted with the best varieties for making 

 wares of that description, Avould yield a ])rofitable 

 return for a small investment. O. V. Hills. 



Leominster, July, 18G0. 



